PA Bill Number: HB1441
Title: Providing for tenants' rights in cases of violence.
Description: Providing for tenants' rights in cases of violence. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table (Pursuant to House Rule 71)
Last Action Date: Apr 16, 2024
Pennsylvania Self-Defense: DA: Shooting that injured woman in Easton was self-defense :: 09/03/2020
EASTON, Pa. - An altercation in Easton ended with a woman being shot, but now the injured woman is behind bars.
The Northampton County district attorney announced Wednesday that the shooting just over two weeks ago was a case of self-defense.
Tiasha Ennis, 30, is facing charges of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in the incident on Monday, Aug. 17 in the 900 block of Ferry Street.
Police responded there around 1 p.m. and found Ennis had been shot in the shoulder.
After further investigation, police say a woman, being called "N.S." for the investigation, walked out of her home as Ennis approached her.
"A female identified as Ms. Ennis confronted her from the sidewalk directly in front of the residence," said Northampton County DA Terry Houck, during a news conference Wednesday morning.
Ennis was accusing N.S. of having intimate relations with her child's father. N.S. denied it, claiming not to know who Ennis was, and police say Ennis lunged toward the victim.
"She felt overpowered and unable to break free from Ennis' grasp. N.S. was pinned up against the wall and continued to get punched in the head and face," Houck said.
N.S. says she feared for her life, causing her to pull out a gun.
Police say video recorded by someone across the street shows N.S. pulling a legally purchased gun from her fanny pack and warning Ennis that she had a gun.
"She fired the weapon once, ultimately striking Ennis," Houck said.
Ennis was released from the hospital on Aug. 20. She was arraigned Wednesday morning and jailed on $25,000 bail.
"Frankly, this needs to be a lesson. If you're going to come up on somebody, in an unprovoked way, to somebody you don't know, than you'd better be ready for the worst," Houck said. "This is why you don't do stuff like this."
Houck says they are also investigating a shooting incident on Aug. 26 in Bethlehem involving two individuals with the last name of Ennis. Investigators are working to determine whether the two incidents are somehow connected.
